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Md Sujon used to work as a mechanic of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation at Sayedabad and lost his job due to ailment and Covid-19 pandemic. He is now unemployed. Like many others, he was standing in the queue to buy daily essentials at subsidised prices from a truck of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
His six-member family currently has almost zero earning source, Sujon said, adding that the rising commodity prices were making it extremely hard to run the family.
“I’m here to buy some goods at low prices. Although these won’t be enough to support my family for long, they ease the burden to some extent,” he explained.
Sujon’s case is not an isolated one. Decreasing purchase capacity and a gradual rise in essential prices have forced thousands like him to run after TCB trucks selling goods at subsidised prices. TCB is failing to meet the increasing demand despite boosting its sales a thousand times. Experts said the monthly expenses of the general people rose rapidly due to unnatural price hike in the open market. On the contrary, peoples’ earnings significantly slipped due to Covid situation, forcing them to rely on the low price goods of TCB.
Various TCB reports show that it sold 7,586MT goods, including edible oil, sugar and red lentil, in 2018-19. Since the Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020, prices of essential items saw a rising trend in the domestic and international markets. According to TCB data, it had increased its sales up to 1,015 per cent in 2019-20 and sold 84,593MT goods.
The TCB sells a litre Soyabean oil at Tk110, which is Tk 168 at retail level in the capital. Likewise, per kg sugar from TCB is sold at Tk 55, which is Tk 80 in retail market.
The Corporation only markets edible oil, sugar, lentil and onions at subsidized rates. A buyer is allowed to buy only two kgs of each commodity from the TCB’trucks.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said that until December 2021, TCB has sold more than 3 lakh tonnes of edible oil, sugar and red lentil among four core families since the pandemic started.
In the incumbent year, the sales would be much higher as the government plans to provide subsidised goods to one crore families twice during this Ramadan. Each person will be allowed to purchase at least two kilograms of three items.
Apart from that, 400 to 450 TCB trucks sell goods throughout the year. Each truck sells 1,600 to 1,700 kgs of goods on 18 to 20 days a month. Excluding Ramadan, TCB has sold 1.30-1.40 lakh tonnes of goods in the remaining 11 months, which means TCB’s sales would reach 3 lakh tonnes this year.
TCB spokesman and Dhaka regional office chief Humayun Kabir told The Business Post that before Covid-19, they used to meet 2 per cent of market demand throughout the year. “But then we supplied goods enough to meet 10 to 12 per cent of market demand. This has increased to 20 per cent in the current year.”
Additional Secretary of the Commerce Ministry Shafiuzzaman told The Business Post that they plan to provide subsidised goods to one crore families during Ramadan. “The TCB goods will be distributed through the deputy commissioners of districts as our warehouses don’t have enough capacity,” he said. DCs would prepare a list of lower-income people and TCB would provide goods as per the demand.
According to the annual report of TCB, it sold maximum 7,500MT goods before 2020. The top three most sold goods were sugar, red lentil and edible oil. As per the 2015-16 data, TCB sold 7,477MT oil, sugar, red lentil, dates and chickpeas which was 7,446MT and 7,055MT in 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively.
But the scenario completely changed in 2019-20 which showed highest sell of edible oil (44,940MT). Onion was included in the list of items. Besides, the sale of red lentil and sugar also increased significantly. Market observation showed abnormal price rise of daily commodities during this time.
In January-February of 2020, prices of per kg edible oil rose to Tk 168 which was sold at Tk 110-115 while mill owners have already submitted their proposal to the Commerce Ministry to fix the rate at Tk 186. Large size red lentil was Tk 55-60 a kg earlier which is now available at Tk 95-100, sugar was Tk 50-52 per kg but now it costs Tk 78-80.
Businessmen are saying that demand for these goods are met through import. The way prices are rising in the international market, prices of daily essentials may increase further in the domestic market in the upcoming days. Besides, prices of other products also rose significantly due to different reasons, including fuel price hike this year.
According to last year’s January survey of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), overall poverty in rural regions was 26.4 per cent in 2016 which was 24.5 per cent in 2018 as per the survey of GED-SANEM. But in 2020, poverty rate rose to 45.3 per cent amid the pandemic. In urban areas, it was 18.9 per cent in 2016, 16.3 per cent in 2018 and reached 35.4 per cent in 2020.
Although each TCB truck had four items, the amount of onion was higher. Maximum 300 buyers can get goods like oil, sugar, and lentil. But 500-600 people queue up within minutes, resulting in most people failing to buy goods despite waiting for a long time.
Amena Khatun, an elderly woman standing in a queue at Segunbagicha, said: “It’s difficult to run our family with the income of my son, who is a driver. Our family can’t afford daily essentials as the market prices keep soaring. I have to stand in queue at my age to ease the burden of my family but I’m afraid I won’t get to buy any product today.
